Is religion a threat to the survival of the world?

[Question Everything]

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I want to start off that by "religion", I am not talking about the kind of Judaism that cnorman18 talks about. I have no dispute with it, and I love the idea of focusing on what we can do to make the world better. In fact, I am in a religion, Yoism, that is based on that very sentiment.

Is Christopher Hitchens right? Are we faced with a choice between civilization and religion? Does religion threaten to destroy the world? (He says this in the beginning of part 2.)

I would like to add to this by saying that in addition to religious nut jobs popping off with nuclear weapons, peak oil and global warming are serious threats to civilization, and if you think the Earth is less than 10,000 years old (few non religious people do), you will never understand those problems and what needs to be done about them.

[sarabellum]

Yes I see evidence that religion could be a threat to the survival of the world....

Most of my evidence is through past experience....

Now I am not saying that the 9/11 bombers were your typical religious believers, but believers they are claimed to be....

When it comes to religion, often there is a subset of believers who come to a far stronger opinion on what they believe their God wants them to do...
Perhaps it is necessary to blow up an abortion clinic....
Or fly a jet into a building....
Or help bring about the end times....
Or fight "evil"....

Of course these type of "extremist" are not in the mainstream of what one would call a believer, but a believer is what they are in their own mind..
Following the "call" of their religion....